Clegg spurns ‘conman’ Cameron’s alliance offer


by Sunny Hundal    
6:10 am - September 20th 2009

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The Tory leader David Cameron has written a bizarre editorial in today’s Observer, titled A Lib Dem-Tory alliance will vanquish Labour.

He says:

I don’t believe in drawing dividing lines where they don’t really exist. Politics works best when instead of hiding behind false divisions we seize opportunities to work together to get things done. That’s what Nick Clegg and I did with the Gurkha issue.

What he should have said is that I jumped on the bandwagon that Nick Clegg had started even though my party had been screwing over the Gurkhas before New Labour got a chance to.

Anyway, he cites examples where the Tories and Libdems have a similar outlook:

Take the environment. Labour talk a big game but time after time they shrink from making the tough decisions. Never was this more evident than when the government approved the third runway at Heathrow.
…
Take another key progressive issue – civil liberties. This Labour government has shown complete contempt for the rights of the individual. And once again it’s been the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats who have been leading the fight against this.
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And we both want to scrap plans for ID cards.
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For many years now, we’ve both been arguing for a radical power shift in our country away from big government and to individuals and communities.
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There’s barely a cigarette paper between us in all these areas. It’s clear: the real enemy of progressive politics is not the Conservatives and I would not claim it is the Liberal Democrats. In truth, it is the bureaucratic, backward-looking, big state government that Labour epitomises.

He wants them to join a “one national movement that can bring real change”.

Perhaps he’s realised his own polling isn’t as strong as it should be at this stage, and that the Tories are frighteningly reliant on his brand.

Nick Clegg though, to his credit, is not touching Cameron with a bargepole.

Responding to the article, Clegg’s chief of staff, Danny Alexander, said: “David Cameron’s claims would be funny if they weren’t such a shameful attempt to mislead the British people.

“They want tax breaks for millionaires: we want the rich to pay more so we can cut taxes for Britain’s least well off.

“On the environment, we are resolutely opposed to nuclear energy, which is dirty, expensive and will not help against climate change. The Tories back nuclear, and for good measure are siding with climate change deniers in the European parliament.”

That’s a firm rejection then.

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About the author
Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Reader comments


1. Liberal Conspiracy

Article:: Clegg spurns ‘conman’ Cameron’s alliance offer http://bit.ly/32A6ob

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2. Kojak

I thought I’d try and start this one by sharing my opinion that Nick Clegg is a boring Muppet. The Liberals deserve him.


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